Windows Security patches/fixes?

[AstroBenny]

When doing Windows updates and you download security fixes do these apply seperately from any anti virus you have installed ? Surely it should be the anti virus programs providing security patches, not Windows update?

[Mindstab Thrull]

These are two different things. The security patches that Windows provide actually change a file on your computer - if you like, it's the equivalent of a game patch. These aren't always the same kind of patches that AV's would give. For example, hypothetically there might be a piece of badly-written code for Internet Explorer that allows someone to use it to connect to your webcam and watch what you type. This isn't a virus, but it's a problem that needs fixing, so Microsoft will ship out an update to fix it, because it's Microsoft that's responsible for Internet Explorer.

[AstroBenny]

These are two different things. The security patches that Windows provide actually change a file on your computer - if you like, it's the equivalent of a game patch. These aren't always the same kind of patches that AV's would give. For example, hypothetically there might be a piece of badly-written code for Internet Explorer that allows someone to use it to connect to your webcam and watch what you type. This isn't a virus, but it's a problem that needs fixing, so Microsoft will ship out an update to fix it, because it's Microsoft that's responsible for Internet Explorer.

That makes sense

Cheers